The present invention relates generally to the field of wall to wall carpeting techniques, and more particularly to floor covering transition device for use between a section of carpet and another floor covering.
Carpet installation and replacement in dwellings, such as homes and apartment units can be a very expensive proposition. This is primarily due to the fact that adjoining pieces of carpet within a room or between rooms must match. In other words, all the pieces of carpet must come from the same dye lot. Otherwise, a person will be able to visually detect that the pieces of carpet do not match. This problem drastically increases the cost of carpet replacement because all the carpet has to be replaced rather than only those pieces or rooms that need new carpet. One attempt to solve this problem has been the replacement of a section of carpet with a wood floor looking laminate product (or sheet vinyl). For example, the carpet in a hallway is replaced with the wood floor locking laminate product. As a result, the carpet in the rooms adjoining the hallway, such as bedrooms, does not have to match each other. The biggest drawback of this type of installation is that it is substantially more expensive than a conventional installation. Moreover, this approach also does not allow the possibility of installing carpet in a living room and dining room independent of one another.
There is, therefore, a need for a transition device that can be installed between two floor coverings to separate areas and allow the use of different carpet dye lots.
The present invention provides a transition device that can be installed between two pieces of flooring material or floor covering to separate areas, such as rooms, closets and hallways, in a typical dwelling. The present invention is particularly applicable for use in apartment units to provide eye-appealing, fashionable accents to the finished appearance of the apartment unit. By separating the different rooms and isolatable floor areas, different dye-lots and even different colors can be combined in the same unit, a practice that has never been possible previously. The ability to mix colors and dye-lots allows the installer to use a much lower priced segment of the carpet mills inventory stock known as xe2x80x9cshort-rollsxe2x80x9d or remnants. Typically, this carpet was difficult for the mills to get rid of and is priced at less than half the normal cost of full rolls of carpet.
The finished initial installation also gives the management companies the option of replacing partial units or isolated rooms or areas in an apartment unit. This has been impractical previous to the development of the present invention due to the fact that carpeting is manufactured in dye lot increments and generally carpets that come from different dye lots cannot be combined. Consequently, if a single room needs to be replaced in a unit, normally replacement of the carpet within the entire unit is ordered so that all the carpet will match. As a result, management companies are able to save money and time as compared to a conventional carpet installation. This is possible due to the fact that the present invention allows the use of short rolls and remnants for these installations, which can be bought at significant discounts from standard carpet at full-roll pricing. Moreover, the transition devices of the present invention provide a new visual appearance for apartment units in a business where there is very little opportunity to differentiate product, namely the unoccupied apartment unit that is being marketed. The apartment units all look very much the same, especially when it comes to the flooring products.
More specifically, the present invention provides a device for transitioning between a first floor covering and a second floor covering wherein the transition device includes an elongated core and a covering. The elongated core has a top, a bottom, opposing sides and opposing ends. The covering is attached to the elongated core and covers the top and opposing sides of the elongated core.
The present invention also provides a system having a transition device attached to a floor that has an elongated core and a covering. The elongated core has a top, a bottom, opposing sides and opposing ends. The covering is attached to the elongated core and covers the top and opposing sides of the elongated core. A first floor covering is attached to the floor and abuts one side of the transition device. Similarly, a second floor covering is attached to the floor and abuts the other side of the transition device.
In addition, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a device for transitioning between a first floor covering and a second floor covering. An elongated core is fabricated having a top, a bottom, opposing sides and opposing ends. A covering is then attached to the elongated core such that the covering covers the top and opposing sides of the elongated core.